I did something this past Memorial Day weekend I haven’t done in years: I spent it in Atlantic City, N. J. There’s a lot of excitement in Atlantic City these days for several reasons. Far from Las Vegas — the other U.S. gaming capital — with over 200 casinos, little Atlantic City with about a dozen is growing. A new $2.5-billion mega-casino resort is set to open next May, and there was an announcement this week that Hard Rock Cafe will build a hotel casino. But while Las Vegas seems stagnant and using the same safe marketing, Atlantic City is getting back to its roots and doing what it does best: showcasing the new. And in our case, that means the nation’s first gay dance club devoted to the gay community inside a casino. And that’s just the starting point.
We as a community have high expectations when it comes to where we’re going to spend our hard-earned dollars. On the East Coast, Atlantic City was once a major LGBT tourist destination, the hub of which was New York Avenue and the surrounding streets. It was filled with numerous LGBT hotels like the Grand Central, the nation’s first gay resort complexes, which housed clubs, restaurants, cabarets, even a bathhouse. The Chester, the Spruce and in between these full-scale hotels were gay clubs. The street was lined with them.
A typical day was getting up, having brunch, going to the pool or sunning on the gay beach, dressing for dinner, having drinks and partying the night away— all in an LGBT ghetto. It was a hub of activity.
As a community, our tastes have changed and we expect more from our leisure time and the place where we’ll spend it. Rehoboth Beach, Del., Asbury Park, N.J., Cherry Grove/Fire Island Pines and Provincetown, Mass., are all vying for those pink vacation dollars.
And they all have something unique. P-Town has entertainment each and every night along with being a quaint New England gem, Rehoboth has outlet shopping and new condos, while Asbury pumps away at being the “new” kid on the block.
On the other hand, Atlantic City is thinking big. It’s a combined effort by the tourist industry and the LGBT community itself. This effort has led to a casino club and show specifically to attract the LGBT leisure traveler at Resorts International, various themed LGBT weekends by Harrah’s and Caesars and LGBT promotions at Borgata.
And why not? Atlantic City has what leisure travelers want. Shopping, the largest outlet mall in any resort on the East Coast, which leads to The Pier Shops at Caesars, with upscale names such as Ferragamo, Armani, Gucci, etc. Food and entertainment of all sorts, from the boardwalk water taffy to numerous five-star restaurants. And entertainment, no question there. But what it doesn’t have yet is a well-defined LGBT beach. The first question is, is that even necessary these days? If it is, why do I sense that the folks at Resorts are already thinking about it?
Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. He can be reached at [email protected].